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For their own goodFifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.

Poised for punishment

Central's Heath Heroux never passes up a chance to deliver a hit that resonates.

By DAVID MURPHY
Published September 12, 2007

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BROOKSVILLE - Heath Heroux doesn't look like the biggest, maddest, meanest hitter in all of Hernando County. He stands about a shade under 6 feet, has short black hair and just this year cracked 170 pounds.

But stick him in a helmet and pads and put him at the back of the Central defense, and the senior safety becomes deadlier than a pack of smokes.

"He's had quite a few poster shots," Central coach Cliff Lohrey said.

Decapitating hits aren't yet an official figure kept by area stat crews, but if they were, Heroux likely would rank somewhere between Michael Myers and Tony Soprano. There was one against Nature Coast last year. Another against Springstead.

Then there was the one against Hernando when Heroux placed an unfortunate Leopard in his sights.

"Assistant coach Joe Nestor and I both looked at each other and said, 'We've got a player,' " Lohrey said.

You would have to be a psychologist to trace the roots of Heroux's aggression on the field. Maybe it started as a freshman at Hillsborough County powerhouse Armwood, where he spent two years before moving to Spring Hill. At the time, the Hawks featured lineman Dougie Thompson, who now plays nose tackle for I-AA Wofford in South Carolina.

One day at practice, Thompson spotted Heroux going over the middle and sent the underclassman flying into a nearby water grate, hitting him so hard his mouthpiece and the ear pad in his helmet flew out.

"My eyes rolled back in my head," Heroux said.

Jeff Wright knows the feeling. A senior receiver for Central, he grinned ruefully when a visitor asked if he had experienced a hit by Heroux.

"A couple times," Wright said.

"Some of the hardest hits I've seen him have are in practice," Lohrey said. "I've seen him light up quite a few Bears."

Heroux had another legendary hit in a preseason loss to Dunedin, knocking a Falcons player so hard he had to leave the field.

"Making a tackle is regular," Heroux said, "but big hits get the crowd's reaction. Plus, seeing it on film is nice."

Last year, Heroux was a spark plug on a Central defense that allowed 12.25 points per game over the last eight games of the season. This year, he's a senior who's hoping to eventually land at a small college out of state.

"Goose bumps," he said, is the feeling he gets after a big hit. Which, coincidentally, is the same feeling his opponents get right before he delivers one.